of cohoes



f UNITED STATES' PA ric.

ORSON PRKHURST, OF COHOES, NEV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO H. D. FULLER AND R.SAFELY, OF COHOES, NEV YORK.

KNITTINGr-MACHINE.

Speccaton of Letters Patent No. 31,647, dated March 5, 1861.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORSON PARKHURST, of Gohoes, Albany county, State ofNew York, have invented a new and useful improvement in that part of theapparatus of knitting-machines known as the stop-motion,7 whereby, onthe failure of the stitch or any other irregularity in the operation ofthe machinery the integrity of the fabric is broken or deranged, themachine can be stopped from working until the defect is remedied; and Ideclare the following specification, with the drawings hereto attachedas part of the same, to be a full and perfect description of myinvention.

Figure l represents in perspective a portion of a knitting loom with myinvention attached to it, Figs. 2 and 3 separate representations of aportion of my apparatus showing its manner of operation by differentcauses.

Similar letters in the figures indicate the same parts of the apparatus.

My invention is attached to what is known as Baileys circular knittingmachines.

Fig'. l shows the upper portion or plates of the machine which carry andoperate the knitting apparatus. A is the revolving plate to which theburs and sinkers are attached, and other machinery to operate theneedles, but which are not shown in the drawing, as' they are entirelyindependent of and unnecessary to illustrate the stopmotion; and theirposition and operation are well known to all using Baileys loom. Fromthe points of the needles N depends the fabric F as it is knit, theintegrity of the cloth depending upon each needles making one perfectstitch in its turn. If a stitch be dropped a gap occurs in the workwhich unless repaired at once will be repeated at the same point,leaving a breach in the cloth. If on the contrary a stitch be notproperly delivered clear of the needle the revolution of the apparatuswill double the next stitch upon it loading up, as it is called, makinga welt or cord in the cloth and commonly causing the breaking of theneedle,

The object of my stop-motion is by a simple apparatus, to arrest themovement of the machine,whenever either a stitch is dropped or a needleloaded.

Upon the face of the revolving plate A is fixed the arm B which projectsover the other plates until it terminates over the needles N in a turnedup fork l) serving to support the axis of a vertical librating lever O.Near the middle of B is a standard l supporting the axis of a horizontallibrating lever E whose outer end c projects beyond the arm B over theouter ring R of the machine. The inner end of this lever is curvedupward and inward until it projects beyond the points of the needleswhen a short part of it a. is bent horizontally at right angles. Thispart c is intended to lie under and rest against the lower edge of anotch in, or the bent upper edge of lever C as shown distinctly in Fig.l. l

Lever O is suspended a short distance inward of the point of the needlesN and its lower end g is bent inward and pointed and so fitted, as torun along the surface of the cloth just below the point of the needle,and to enter into any breach occasioned by the want of a stitch, orwhenever the fabric is enlarged at its edge outward by the duplicationof stitches upon the same needle. In order to regulate the pressurenecessary to effect this, with reference to the stop machinery, thereprojects out opposite the axis of C a rod upon which a small weight T isplaced, arranged to screw back and forth upon the rod, by which thepressure upon the cloth may be adjusted so as neither to impede theknitting operation nor to endanger the tearing of the fabric.

The outer ring R, device used with these machines) moves freely in agroove around the periphery of the machine, as the medium ofcommunication between the stop motion and the detaching apparatus, todisengage the moving power. It has at short intervals pins 7) insertedvertically into it rising just high enough so as to clear the end e oflever E while its inner end underlies the edge j of lever C.

To the framework of the machine is attached a lever D, connected withthe throwing ofi' or detaching apparatus, to disengage the power. Thislever has one of its arms, while the machine is in motion, lying betweenany two of the pins y) p so that any movement of ring R may turn it offthe machine and thus disengage the power may effect of that pressure inreference tothe pressure of the point g of lever C against the clothbeing adjusted by the screwing of the weight 7 inward or outward uponits rod. When thus adjusted so long as the needles operate duly thepoint g will travel over a smooth surface of cloth, and the outer end eof lever E will circulate above the pins p. But if the needles fail tomake a stitch and leave an opening as at H, in the surface of thefabric, the point will enter into it and in so doing throw the outer endf of C into the position shown in Fig. 2, disengaging a and permitting et0 drop down between the pins 29,'i''orcing the ring R to turn and moveleverl D till the power is disengaged and the machine stopped. If aneedle is loaded up, it will raise the surface of the fabric at itsupper edge throwing the end f into the position shown in Fig. 3 droppinge and producing a like result.

The combination of the librating lever E- with the lever C, itsadjusting weight lV and point g operating to and with each other inmanner and form as described, so as to disengage the operating powerthrough ring R, upon the dropping` of a stitch, or loading of theneedles or any false operation of the machinery by which the integrityof the fabric knit is affected; substantially as the same is set forthand described in the within specification.

ORSON PARKHURST. Vitnesses RICHD. vVARICK DE VITT, W. C. MILLER.

